The Sizes of Lined Paper on YouTube

It takes lots of repetition to embed in the brain the correct way to hold a pencil and how to make the shapes for each letter with ease. So let your child have lots of practice writing anything he would like, for instance: making lists of things he likes to do or of presents for an upcoming holiday (children always feel like their birthday is a holiday – as it should be!), notes, labels, stories…. The focus should be on forming the letters clearly so others can read them. Children learn the importance to writing neatly and legibly when they have their words misunderstood because others can’t read their words.

For instance, when Sam made out his birthday list of treasures he would like after scouring through the magazines, he didn’t write one of the words clearly. It was Star…something and I was at the store and didn’t know what Star… item he had asked for. The look on his face while he was unwrapping the present told me I had guessed wrong, but it became a valuable lesson for him. He learned to write his words more clearly so mom knew what he was thinking about.

Using Lined Paper

Once your child has an understanding of how to form the letters in the alphabet, it is time to move to lined paper.

Lined Paper

• Using the lined handwriting paper with the black, red and blue lines will help you to give clear instructions to guide your child for the proper location of each letter. For example, if your child is learning the lower case letter “j”.  You would instruct him to start at the red dashed line, go down passed the blue line and dot the “j” above the red dashed line.
• The blue line is like the floor on our special “house” and “boat” paper.  It is the line that all letters rest on.
• The red dashed line in the middle is where lower case letters like: a, c, e touch at the top and letters like: h, k and f have a part of the letter touch.
• There is a solid black line on the top so your child knows that is where the letters must stop.  All tall letters touch here.
• Our black, red and blue lined handwriting paper is available to download to use with your child.

• The purpose of the colored lines will help your child transition to using paper without the guide lines.

Sizes of the Paper

The lined handwriting paper for kindergarten students is wider than for older students. As children become more comfortable with printing, the line sizes get a little smaller.

• Kindergarten is ³⁄₄“
• First grade is ⁵⁄₈“
• Second grade is ¹⁄₂“

As your child is able to make his letters consistently, he can begin using handwriting paper without the colored lines.

Slant of the Paper

Slanting the paper to the right (if your child is left handed) or to the left (if he is right handed) makes it easier for your child because it lines the paper up with the natural direction of the arm.

Holding the Paper in Place

While your child’s writing hand is busy, be sure to show him that his other hand has a job too! The other hand (the one not writing) holds the paper in place – so the paper doesn’t move around and he’ll find that his handwriting is much neater.

I’ve seen children try to eat a snack while writing and learn very quickly that they need both hands to write neatly.

Assessment

Watch your child as he writes.  Take note if he is properly touching the colored lines when he is writing his letters.  Give him clear instructions if he is having difficulty with a letter. For example if he is struggling with the lower case letter “h”.  You would instruct him to start at the black line, go down to the blue line, back up to the red dashed line and back down to the blue line.
Check for:

1. all the letters touch the solid blue line.
2. all capital letters touch the solid black line.
3. all lower case letters except “l” have a portion of the letter touch the red dashed line. Technically “l” passes through the red dashed line.
4. lower case letters such as – b, d, f, h, k, and l touch the solid black line.
5. lower case letters such as – g, j, p, q and y have a tail that passes through the solid blue line.

Using the colored lined handwriting paper for your child’s writing will encourage him to write neatly and help him to master forming each letter.

Links

• Pencil Grip -  an easy and effective way to show your child how to properly hold a pencil.
• Pre-Writing – pre-writing activities to do with your child.
• Conventional Writing – conventional writing activities to do with your child.

This entry was posted on May 22, 2009 at 3:00 am and is filed under Activities, Beginning Writing, Handwriting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.